MONROE, La. - United States Attorney Stephanie A. Finley announced that a Monroe woman was sentenced this week to 21 months in prison for receiving more than $119,000 in Social Security benefits intended for her father who had died years before.
Jessica Lewis, 43, of Monroe, was sentenced Monday by U.S. District Judge Robert G. James on one count of theft of government property. She was also sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $119,258 restitution. According to evidence presented at the guilty plea, between June 3, 1998 and Jan. 3, 2014, Lewis cashed and used her deceased father’s Social Security benefit checks. She also did not inform the Social Security Administration that her father had died and told office representatives that he was alive in order to keep receiving the benefit checks. The total amount taken was $119,258.
The Social Security Administration-Office of Inspector General conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Brandon B. Brown prosecuted the case.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
